Music

Cardi B is not feeling the current state of hip hop, and she’s blasting rappers for having a death wish and making boring, depressing music.

“I feel like we keep hearing the same song over and over and over again. These rappers nowadays, all of them wanna die,” she said Monday during an Instagram Live session. She also declared that rappers “need to stop doing lean and smoking weed, adding, “You know, this the thing about these rappers, right? They got money and they start buying too much motherf***ing weed, and too much lean and they make that slow s***.”

The Grammy winner, who was announced Tuesday as the host of the American Music Awards, says that club DJs need her to drop hot, new tracks.

“They missing me. They missing my music,” she said.

Also on Monday night, the “WAP” rapper displayed a special gift from DJ Khaled, a multi-layered diamond bracelet from Pristine Jewelers that she described as a “chandelier.”

“I am so surprised, so in shock so in awe. I can’t believe it…I am so thankful and so grateful,” she said. “I just want to give DJ Khaled a big hug.

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Summer Walker revealed a star-studded lineup for her upcoming album, Still Over It, Tuesday on Instagram, including Cardi B, Pharrell Williams, SZA and Ciara.

The 20-track project, which will released Friday, also features Omarion, Lil Durk and Ari Lennox, plus JT from City Girls, who teamed with Summer for the first single, “Ex for a Reason.”

Cardi narrates the first song, “Bitterness,” and the album closes with Ciara narrating “Ciara’s Prayer.” Still Over It is the follow-up to Walker’s 2019 number one, RIAA-Platinum debut album, Over It.

This week, the 25-year-old singer, who is a native of the A-T-L, will host an album listening session at the Atlanta University Center, open exclusively to the women of Spelman College and Clark Atlanta University.

 

 

 

 

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For her latest video, “Fallen Fruit,” Lorde returns to the same beach where she filmed the clip for “Solar Power,” but this time, things aren’t quite so idyllic.

The video shows Lorde, wearing a two-piece, strapless beige gown, walking slowly through pathways lined with flowers and fruit, and daytime beach scenes where people seem to be working or playing. That’s intercut with scenes of her in the same outfit, walking through those same scenes at night — except now, everything seems to be wrecked, strewn about or set on fire.

At the end of the clip, Lorde walks down to an empty beach, intercut with her walking on the beach at night. At night, there’s a car waiting for her, and a driver who slips a coat around her shoulders and hands her a bottle of water before driving her away.

It’s all very metaphorical, and in a newsletter to fans, quoted by Uproxx, Lorde explains, “In the ‘Solar Power’ video, you were introduced to the island as a lush paradise — glistening water, blue skies, not a grain of sand out of place…Cut to: humans doing as they do, getting greedy, treating the land with disrespect and stripping it of its beauty. There’ll always another pristine place to start again, right?”

She adds, “The gardens that were once lush and fruitful are now on fire. The fishing boats are busted up and overturned. All that’s left of the peaches are their pits. Amid all that, my character makes a choice.”

“Fallen Fruit” is from Lorde’s latest album, Solar Power.

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Leona Lewis is re-releasing her 2013 holiday album Christmas, with Love, with two new tracks.

Retitled Christmas, with Love Always, the album will be released on November 19. In addition to holiday favorites like “Silent Night,” “White Christmas” and its best-known track, “One More Sleep,” the re-release includes a cover of the 1977 single “If I Can’t Have You,” written and recorded by the Bee Gees and made into a hit by Yvonne Elliman.  Leona has reimagined the disco classic as a ballad with strings and piano.

In addition, the “Bleeding Love” singer has recorded a new song called “Kiss Me It’s Christmas” as a duet with Ne-Yo. That song is out now.  It was co-written by Biff Stannard, who co-wrote all of the Spice Girls‘ hits.

“I’m so happy to share an early Christmas present with you all,” Leona writes on Instagram. “I really felt after the difficult last couple of years that I wanted to share some new songs, get out on the road, spread love and see and feel you all!”

She adds, “I know it’s been tough time and music brings us all together and that’s what I hope I can bring with this special repackaged release of my 2013 studio album…I’m so so excited to make new memories with you this year and as always appreciate all the love and support.”

Here’s the full track listing for Christmas, with Love Always:

“One More Sleep”
“Winter Wonderland”
“White Christmas”
“Your Hallelujah”
“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”
“Mr Right”
“O Holy Night”
“I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday”
“Ave Maria”
“Silent Night”
“Kiss Me It’s Christmas” (feat. Ne-Yo)
“If I Can’t Have You”

 

 

 

 

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Tori Kelly is adding “author” to her resume. 

The Grammy-winning star will release a children’s picture book, The Curly Girl Blues, in January.  Tori incorporated elements of her own childhood, themes and characters from her personal life and lessons she’s learned in her career into the story.

“As someone who always felt like I was different from everyone else growing up I wanted to encourage young kids to embrace their individuality and characteristics that make them unique,” Tori explains. “This book isn’t just about loving yourself, it’s also about celebrating the different cultures around us. My hope is to inspire the next generation and show how beautifully diverse this world is.”

The book’s description declares, “Everybody looks different, and we often get caught in the trap of comparing ourselves to the appearance of others instead of celebrating ourselves. Follow along as Emma comes down with a case of The Curly Girl Blues.”

The book is the first one released by Lumilly, a publishing house dedicated to releasing “meaningful” children’s picture books.

Tori will reprise her role as Meena in Sing 2, the sequel to the 2016 animated hit Sing, which opens December 22. Also in the cast: Halsey and U2‘s Bono.

 

 

 

 

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Jonathan Majors, who stars in Netflix’s critically-acclaimed Black cowboy drama The Harder They Fall, is taking his talents to Saturday Night Live.

NBC announced on Tuesday that they’ve tapped Majors, along with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu, for upcoming SNL hosting duties. Majors will host the series on November 13 with Taylor Swift as the musical guest. Meanwhile, Liu will host on November 20, with rapper Saweetie to perform. This will be the SNL hosting debut for both Majors and Liu.

In other news, Gugu Mbatha-Raw is joining Edgar Ramírez for the upcoming romantic drama Nobody’s Heart, Variety has learned. Directed by Isabel Coixet, the film is an adaption of William Boyd’s best-selling short story, Cork, which is based on the life of celebrated Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa. It follows a new widow named Lily, who inherits her husband’s cork factory and begins an unexpected relationship with one of his workers. Nobody’s Heart is set to begin filming in Portugal in January.

Finally, ICYMI, Warner Media has added season two of the Peabody Award–winning drama David Makes Man to its streaming site, HBO Max. This comes after they’ve recently added a new lineup of Black content, including the sitcoms Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, In the House, The Jamie Foxx Show, Martin and The Parent ’Hood.

 

 

 

 

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Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak continue to tease us with music from their upcoming debut album as Silk Sonic.

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Ingrid Michaelson and actress/singer Zooey Deschanel have teamed up for a Christmas duet, and the video for the newly released track, “Merry Christmas, Happy New Year,” is definitely the cutest thing you’ll see all day.

The entire video is populated by stop-motion animated, fuzzy felted creatures, including the main characters, Bunny and Rabbit, who decorate their house for Christmas and bake cookies.  Bunny heads off with a sled to chop down their Christmas tree in a nearby felt forest, but after he finds it at the bottom of a hill, he realizes he can’t get back up the hill.

No worries, though: A squirrel and a couple of mice are nearby and lend Bunny a hand, dragging him back up the hill and accompanying him back home, where everyone eats Christmas cookies and celebrates.  The visual was created by director Andrea Love and author/illustrator Phoebe Wahl.

“Merry Christmas, Happy New Year” is on the new deluxe edition of Ingrid’s 2018 album, Songs for the Season, which is due out Friday.  It features five new tracks, including this new one and “Christmas Valentine,” Ingrid’s 2019 collab with Jason Mraz.

Ingrid’s 15th Annual Holiday Hop concert takes place at New York’s Webster Hall on December 5; tickets are on sale now via BoweryPresents.com.  If you can’t make it to New York City, you can join a virtual VIP After Party with Ingrid where she’ll answer questions, talk about the holidays and play a few acoustic songs.  Get tickets for that via Mandolin.

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Verzuz is expanding with a special event this Wednesday featuring rappers gaming and a performance by Migos.

T-Pain is hosting “Call of Duty: Vanguard,” a multi-round gameplay tournament featuring Lil Jon and Lil Tecca against Big Boi and Big Sean. 

In addition to the gameplay, the members of Migos — Offset, Quavo and Takeoff — will perform together.

In the previous Verzuz, Big Daddy Kane battled KRS-One on October 17 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The event featured DJ Scratch backing Kane on the 1s and 2s, and Kid Capri rocking the turntables for KRS, as well as guest appearances by Roxanne Shanté, Masta Ace and Craig G, Das EFX, Mad Lion, Buckshot and Kool DJ Red Alert. There was also a dance battle between legendary breakers Crazy Legs and Pop Master.

“Call of Duty: Vanguard” will stream on Triller, Fite TV and Verzuz TV Instagram on Wednesday, November 3, at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT.

 

 

 

 

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